


Dr. Banner's Guide to Seduction

by Melime



Category: Marvel Avengers Movies Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: M/M, Manipulative Use of Shyness, NLP, Science Boyfriends, Science Bros, Use of Neurology to Seduction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-03
Updated: 2012-09-21
Packaged: 2017-11-13 11:02:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 3,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/502822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melime/pseuds/Melime
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dr. Banner's Guide to Seduction or How to Win a Genius, Billionaire, Playboy and Philanthropist by Using Neurolinguistic Programming</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Dr. Banner's Guide to Seduction

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into 中文 available: [班纳博士的勾引指南](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6394774) by [ysubmarine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ysubmarine/pseuds/ysubmarine)
  * A translation of [O Guia de Sedução do Dr. Banner](https://archiveofourown.org/works/502819) by [Melime GreenLeaf (Melime)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melime/pseuds/Melime%20GreenLeaf). 



> I was reading an article about the use of NLP (neurolinguistic programming) for shy people to seduction, and immediately thought of Bruce. Who said you have to overcome shyness to seduce someone?

After his "incident", Bruce thought his life was over; he was destined to run and hide for as long as he lived, and he would always be alone. Until he met Tony.

 

Tony, who treated him like a normal person, who was not afraid of provoking him, who did everything to make him accept The Other Guy, who trusted him when no one else would, who gave him a place to stay, who spoke with him like they were equals ...

 

It was only natural that he'd fallen in love with him.

 

To be fair, it wasn’t love at first sight. It took at least a week for him to realize that he was completely in love. Or nearly so. There were more than three days, for sure. Or maybe two.

 

The question was that he known to have fallen in love with someone who was used to bring a stunning new girl to bed every night. That could be a problem.

 

It took a few days for him to decide to do something. Actually, he believed wasn’t worthy of love, at least until Tony looked into his eyes and said: "Stop using the Hulk as an excuse for everything, you deserve to be happy and deserve to love someone. Or at least to have sex, because that self-imposed celibacy is starting to annoy me so much that if it doesn’t stop soon, I'll have to solve the problem myself." Tony laughed at the last statement, to demonstrate clearly that he was joking. And Bruce knew he wasn’t serious, because he understood enough of neurology and biology to realize when someone was interested in him. But the effect of those words was too strong, strong enough to cause decided to act. He knew he wasn’t attractive enough for Tony patterns, but also knew that arouse fascination was more a matter of attitude than appearance.

 

But he was a little shy, and had not been in any kind of romantic relationship for a long time. He knew that if he was too obvious, Tony would retreat. He was too proud to let himself be seduced. So he needed to be more subtle. He remembered one of his old thesis, from his college days. Years passed since he worked with neurolinguistic programming, but he still remembered well what he had to do. Or at least he hoped so.


	2. Day 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First tactic: imitate the other one's body posture.

Day 1

 

The first rule, as he well remembered, was to synchronize their behavior with each other. Because they worked together, or at least near each other for most of the day, it didn’t took long for him to be in perfect harmony with Tony.

 

It was easier to do that when they were talking, though in these moments he had to be more careful not to be too obvious. If Tony was gesticulating a lot, he did the same thing, if he acted more restrained, so did Bruce. He leaned slightly forward seconds after the engineer have done the same thing, to turn away only when the other already had.

 

Sometimes he watched as Tony almost imperceptibly moved toward a tool, and then handed it to him without even making eye contact. It was as if he could foresee his thoughts, by using every little sign to know what to do next.

 

This type of seduction was slower, but it offered spectacular results. In just a few hours, Tony already seemed even more comfortable in his presence. He could feel the mask he wore to be lowered, even if only a little. They moved like one mind in two bodies, and by the end of the day, Tony seemed to be anticipating Bruce’s moves too.


	3. Day 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Second tactic: imitate the other one's speech rhythm

Day 2

The second part was ridiculously easy, because he was already doing it without even realizing: talk at the same rate.

 

Tony's enthusiasm was contagious, it was impossible not to go into his orbit. For a moment, Bruce wondered who really was seducing whom, but came to the conclusion that it didn’t matter.

 

The whole point of neurolinguistic programming is that it’s not pretend or act differently, is simply a matter of doing consciously what one would already do in a relationship, perhaps speeding things up a bit. If he was feeling good and acting so natural, it was because he was doing the right thing.

 

And Tony, well ... Tony seemed mesmerized. As they were talking, he ignored all the other people around him. This was kind of embarrassing. When he had to warn him that Steve was screaming at him for a good five minutes in one of the meetings, and realized that he genuinely had no idea of that, he thought he might have gone too far. But the prize was too high so he could quit. Perhaps he would never find another person who would accept him for who he was, and that was so similar (albeit very different) of himself.

 

And the satisfaction of knowing that Tony had never been so because of another person also was too good to give up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the tiny chapters, but I did it so that I could post as I write.  
> It was hard to think of scenes to illustrate these first two days, but for the next one I've got a nice scene.


	4. Day 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Third tactic: imitate the other one's breathing rhythm

Day 3

 

The next step is to breathe in the same rhythm. He knows that speeding up his breathing to mimic Tony’s isn’t exactly a good idea, but he never quite put the two in real danger.

 

As if helping with this tactic, Tony pulls him into a closet when hears footsteps coming into the lab. The closet wasn’t exactly small, but it was so jammed that they were only an inch away from one another. The darkness was almost total, so it was easy to focus on his breathing.

 

"Why are we in a closet?" he felt he should ask.

 

"You're right, it’s childish." Bruce nodded in agreement. "If you want to come out of the closet I’ll call a press conference, you would be a good role model for everyone."

 

It took him a second to get the joke, and he heard Tony laugh when he saw his facial expression changed to indicate a slight irritation.

 

"If you don’t tell me who we are hiding from, I'm out of here right now. And I will say to whoever is out there that you're here. "

 

It was hard to fight and whisper while still keeping their breaths synchronized, but years of yoga (with a little dedication to tantric yoga) taught him to do just about anything withhis breath.

 

"Perhaps Fury has called for a consultancy. Not that the world is in jeopardy, I checked. And maybe I’ve told JARVIS to block all calls to our cell phones. So maybe he has sent some agents to get us. "

 

They were quiet for a moment, not knowing what to say. The proximity and darkness were uncomfortable for both, perhaps because they were a little too comfortable. When his eyes began to get used to the lack of light, Bruce noticed that Tony’s hand was coming slowly up toward his face, as if he didn’t realized what he was doing.

 

He felt his heart race, but not in a dangerous way. Suddenly, he was overcome by fear, things were going too fast. He wasn’t ready for that. He was seized by panic, and so he opened the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have to leave now, but as soon as I get back from college (in a little over seven hours) I'll finish the next chapter.


	5. Day 3.5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fourth tactic: make eye contact for longer than usual while breathing slowly

Day 3.5

 

When he was about to step out of the closet, Tony grabbed him by the wrist.

 

What he did next was by accident. He didn’t intended to provoke him even more, at least not now. It was just a normal reaction to having his wrist snapped. He turned his eyes and stared Tony’s fixedly.

 

He breathed deeply, as if to calm himself. Both still held their gaze, as if held by some kind of spell. Bruce felt as if his soul was exposed. They were connected in a way that neither could explain, as if nothing else mattered in the world, as if only they could see each other's eyes.

 

It was still under the effect of this spell that Tony began to tilt slowly forward.

 

And it was then that Bruce panicked.


	6. Chapter 6

In case of emergency

 

Suddenly, the world was in slow motion. He could see Tony approaching so slowly that hardly seemed to be moving at all. Bruce was in panic, he had to do something, it was too early for that.

 

He did the only thing he could, feeling a fool by using this technique, but it was the only one he knew to break the spell. He turned his face away, breaking eye contact. He let out a nervous laugh and felt his cheeks blush. He was sure he was acting like a fifteen years old teenager girl. He pulled his wrist gently.

 

"I think we're alone, we can go back to work." he said without looking up and then practically ran out, leaving a desolate Tony behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay and the size of the chapter.  
> I promise the next one will be extra long and extra sexy to compensate.  
> For those who are following the order of the techniques (that really work), I'll skip one over and leave it for the end because it best fits the story better that way.


	7. Day 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here, have some blueberry porn.

Day 4

 

Despite his small panic attack the day before, Bruce wouldn’t give up what he was doing. He decided to make up for his small scene the day before.

 

Tony was acting as if nothing had happened, and perhaps believing that in fact nothing had happened. It was casually that he offered some blueberries when he passed Bruce’s table, but not so casually that the other one accepted.

 

He extended the package’s opening gently with two fingers, to only then to pick up some blueberries. He took one of them with one hand while the other held the rest. He slowly approached the small fruit of his closed lips, as if he intended to kiss it. When it made contact with his lips, he opened them just enough to push it into his mouth. He savored it, closing his eyes to better focus on the flavor and slightly tilting his head back when he swallowed. He let out a soft sigh and opened his eyes slowly, as if he had just gone through an intense sensory experience. And then did the same with all the others.

 

Tony couldn’t do anything but stand there, admiring the spectacle. His eyes were fixed on Bruce, with his pupils so dilated that the light was hurting him, he wanted to devour the image with a look. Bruce smiled almost imperceptibly when he noticed that Tony had slightly opened his lips and left them like that. He was still offering the packet of blueberries, as if completely immobilized. When the fruits ended, Bruce fixed his eyes on him and said, little louder than a whisper, "Thank you."

 

Tony shook his head. "Whenever you want." he replied knowing that it sounded stupid. And then he went back to his own table, but Bruce noted that he couldn’t keep working more than five minutes without diverting his eyes to observe him. And if he was being watched, Bruce would make a real spectacle.

 

Tony was no fool, much less innocent. He knew something was happening. He just couldn’t understand what. Something made him want to touch Bruce when they were in that closet, he wanted some kind of contact. It was something that the other one was doing, he decided. But what? Looking at him? Breathing? Since when this stuff were messing with his mind? And to make matters worse, Bruce was now doing blueberries seem erotic. Whatever was happening, Tony would find out.

 

To say that neither of them worked that day would be overkill. Bruce was definitely working, it was just Tony who couldn’t concentrate. And how could him, seeing Bruce fingers gently glide by his microscope, as if stroking the back of a lover? And what he was doing with those blades should be illegal: preparing them slowly and gently, caressing them after they were done, placing it carefully under the microscope, gently biting his lips while watching, making his notes with a perfect and well designed calligraphy... No, Tony couldn’t concentrate, especially because his jeans were starting to get uncomfortable.

 

However, what Bruce did with the burette was too much. He put it on a beaker, dripping something that Tony couldn’t identify. He looked at it impatiently, heaved a sigh of indignation, and then covered its top with his lips. He was blowing it, to accelerate the process, but that almost innocent action led Tony’s mind to very dangerous places.

 

"What do you think you are doing?" he almost cried.

 

"I'm adding a bit of..." he began to explain like he hadn’t done anything.

 

"No, this ..." he did a general gesture with one hand, as if he couldn’t describe what he was seeing. "This that you made with your mouth." he said finally.

 

"Oh, I was just blowing it a bit to go faster. Why, do you have something against blowing?"

 

It was amazing how he could keep the air of innocence, as if he had no idea what he was implying.

 

"It's against security procedures." he managed to articulate.

 

"Since when do you care about security?" Bruce replied with a smile that disarmed him completely.

 

He got up and left the lab, taking care to keep his back to Bruce. When he got back he would figure out what Bruce was doing, but now he needed to think and in no way he could do it there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had an old chemistry teacher who blew some equipment to go faster, I think it was the burette. Until one day she nearly died inhaling caustic soda.


	8. Day 4.5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How to show interest: smile at him, touch his arm while talking, touch him "accidentally".

Day 4.5

 

After Tony left the laboratory, Bruce kept acting in the same way. He knew that there wasn’t a corner of the building that wasn’t covered with cameras and didn’t want Tony to think he was just doing this because of him, at least not yet.

 

He pretended not to notice when he returned shortly after lunch. He was ready to begin the next stage of the plan, which was also the most dangerous: subtly show interest. If he stopped to think, he would have noticed that he had already begun to do this, smiling at Tony more than at anyone else. But at the moment he was thinking about doing something a little more obvious.

 

He walked quietly to Tony’s table, who pretended not to see him. Until Bruce said "Oh, here it is!" and took the folder that was strategically left there earlier. He took more time on the movement than necessary, with one hand resting behind Tony’s chair and his body tilted slightly against him. He touched Tony’s face gently when he brought back the folder. And then it all came out of his control.

 

He had no idea how Tony had managed to get up from the chair, push it out of the way and hold him against the table so fast. He would definitely have to watch the filming after, because he hadn’t seen what happen.

 

It was impossible to concentrate on anything but Tony’s eyes, which seemed to be burning with anger. He thought he had gone too far, he had blown it, perhaps even destroyed their friendship. He was about to apologize when Tony approached further, pressing his body against the table. And then he realized it wasn’t anger. Oh, definitely not anger. He cursed himself for being so stupid, but it had been so long that he no longer recognized a look of pure desire, if he had ever seen one.

 

"What are you doing?" Tony asked again, this time with a hoarse voice.

 

"I just needed this folder for a..." he kept trying to maintain his innocence, especially after realizing the effect it was causing.

 

"First you spend all morning acting as if the fucking lab was the set of a porno movie and then you..."

 

"I was just doing my job." then he completed mocking. "I don’t know what kind of movie you been seeing, but that's how science is done."

 

The comment seemed to outrage Tony even more.

 

"Since yesterday you... No, it started before that. For days you’re moving, and talking, and looking at me and... Breathing! "

 

Bruce raised an eyebrow and Tony knew his last comment was completely ridiculous.

 

And it was then that Bruce prepared for the final blow.


	9. The Final Blow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the technique that I've jumped before: look away, breathe deeply twice, and in the third, stare into his eyes.

The Final Blow

 

Bruce looked away, feeling his face flush involuntarily. He inspired and expired slowly twice, before lifting his face again. And then, while staring into Tony’s eyes, he repeated the process again.

 

It wasn’t much, he was just breathing. But they were so close, and now Tony was so overcome by desire that it was impossible to resist. Before Bruce finished the third breath, he pulled him towards him and kissed him.

 

It would have been a kiss full of passion and the perfect start to their relationship if only Tony had chosen a slightly better moment. Having almost no air in his lungs, Bruce began struggling to breathe after only ten seconds, needing to push Tony away for air.

 

That wasn’t the reaction the engineer expected, and it made him rethink everything he had done. Had he misinterpreted the signs? But the confusion didn’t last long, because as soon as he got his breath, Bruce wrapped his neck with his arms and pulled him into a kiss, but this time, completely passionate.

 

Bruce didn’t understand how he had the courage to do it, but he was happy to have taken the chance. And that was the closest to a rational thought that his mind could come while Tony's tongue eagerly explored his mouth.

 

They spent a few minutes like that, stopping occasionally to breathe, until Tony's hands began to go to dangerous places and Bruce had to interrupt him.

 

"Tony." Bruce started pulling himself slightly away from the other one. "We need to talk."

 

"Talking only complicates things." said Tony against his neck, and then began to deposit a series of kisses there.

 

"Tony." he repeated in a voice a little more serious, without causing great effect. "There's something I need to say about the Other Guy."

 

That seemed to get a least some attention from Tony, but not enough to make him move away.

 

"Now?" he asked almost in a protest.

 

Bruce felt himself blushing violently as he prepared for what he would say next. He feared getting ahead of things, but it was something he needed to say.

 

"I don’t know if I would transform... Well, I don’t know if... Do you know? If I would... "

 

"If sex would make you Hulk-out?" Tony suggested raising an eyebrow.

 

Bruce would like to be able to dig a deep hole to hide, preferably one that go to the center of the earth. He began to think that perhaps Tony wasn’t planning to sleep with him. He felt even worse when Tony added: "You turned the other times?"

 

It was clear that Tony was talking about the other times he had sex since he turned into the Hulk. And he didn’t know how to answer.

 

"I didn’t... Since the accident I haven’t... I thought it would be too dangerous and that no one would want to be with me, so... I haven’t slept with anyone since the accident."

 

This statement seemed to genuinely shock Tony, who looked at him as if someone had just told him that all the puppies and kittens in the world would be transformed into hamburgers.

 

"This is absurd! We need to fix this immediately!" and then he returned to kiss Bruce eagerly, as he sought to take his belt without moving away their bodies one inch.

 

It wasn’t the reaction he expected, and he allowed himself to take a moment before realizing that they hadn’t discussed the risks.

 

"Tony, wait. I'm serious, I can transform and end up killing you."

 

Tony rolled his eyes theatrically. "The Hulk is triggered by anger, right? I can make it work without anger. If that's what you need, we will make sweet sweet love so gently that pink hearts will spontaneously start flying around us. "

 

It was a strange mental image, but Tony wasn’t used to be rejected. And that was his way of saying he could be gentle.

 

"It's not just a matter of anger." he said ignoring the rest of the proposal. "There is also the question of acceleration of the heartbeat."

 

"Ok, got it. I can work with that, sweet sweet love like a ninety years old couple. Your heart rate won’t go over eighty. Ninety, maximum. "

 

Bruce raised an eyebrow, surprised by Tony’s creativity. He was still worried, but it was difficult to find arguments when their bodies were so close. When Tony pulled away just enough to catch a mini heartbeat meter of a drawer and put it on one of his fingers, he gave up protesting and smiled.

 

"Nothing above ninety beats." he said, giving in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone is waiting to see how will be the "sweet sweet love like a ninety years old couple" sorry, I am absolutely incapable of writing sex scenes.


	10. 3 months later

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay in updating, a cyclone left me without power for a long time.

Tony had just returned from a particularly tedious meeting and he was sitting on the table waiting for Bruce to finish his notes so they could go to lunch.

 

"You know, the meeting would have been unbearable if I hadn’t found something interesting to read." Tony said innocently.

 

"Yeah?" Bruce replied but wasn’t really paying attention.

 

"Yeah, I decided to look for some of your earlier articles. You know how much I like of what you write. "

 

The last statement made Bruce blush lightly, reminding him of when he asked Tony to review his first speech to the scientific community since the accident, and somehow he was persuaded and finished reciting the speech while receiving a particularly enthusiastic blowjob.

 

"Did you find anything interesting?" he asked, hoping not to be showing on his face, or anywhere else, what he had just been thinking.

 

"Oh, I found something very interesting. I didn’t know you had studied neurolinguistics."

 

Bruce froze, feeling a chill go through his whole body. Could it be that Tony had discovered what he had done? Was he angry for being manipulated? He lifted his head hesitantly, taking off his glasses and depositing them on the table.

 

"It was just a passing interest. One semester, a long time ago. "

 

There was an unspoken question in his eyes. 'Are we okay?' Tony, who had a certain sadistic vein, let him stay that way for a few seconds.

 

"At least one of us studied something useful." he declared before pulling him for a passionate kiss.

 

"Just because you never had to study. What to me is science, to you it’s art, it’s a natural talent." he replied after they separated.

 

"Talent? I like that, but you also have talent." he thanked with a smile. "You almost made me crazy, I couldn’t understand what was happening." and he added triumphantly: "I knew there was something strange about the way you breathe!"

 

Bruce laughed and pulled him in for another kiss. Once they returned, he would send a thank you note to his former neurolinguistics’ professor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who read this, especially those who commented or left kudos.  
> It was wonderful to spend these days writing (although I should be writing my original short stories book), especially because of the positive reaction I received. I think I never finished a fic this size so quickly.  
> And if anyone wants a lot of angst and a bit of h/c (well, a lot of hurt, a bit of comfort), I'm starting a new story called Of Alcohol and Bad Choices.


End file.
